Kiss & Run
Would you run away from your spouse and kids for a train ride to Chicago with a teenager sweetheart? If the answer is no, then it’s unlikely Run is a show you’ll find very believable. The problem Run faces is the same one that last year’s dystopian bestseller Vox by Christina Dalcher faces – the lead protagonist just isn’t very likable. This week sees us return with another episode that solidifies this and although some of the humour is well written, it’s not enough to look past the glaring problems with this comedy, now starting to slow down and drip feeding us information in these 30 minute segments. Episode 2 of Run begins with us cutting back in time to see the moments Billy sent the text “RUN”. Drowning his sorrows in alcohol, he tells Fiona on the phone he won’t apologize for what he’s done. Although we’re not told what’s happened per-se, putting the clues together it would hint at the viral video of him shouting at a student may be the reason behind this. On the train, Ruby and Billy settle in for the night but their intimacy is consistently awkward and ruined by the small train compartment. As Ruby starts to strip down, Billy notices her C-section scar. After thinking it over, things eventually start to get romantic but Ruby’s phone vibrating prompts them to break off for now as Ruby speaks to her husband, who happens to be struggling with all the chores for their children. He pleads with her to return home but instead she convinces him to let her stay gone for the week. When Billy rejects her, Ruby instead turns her attention to fellow passenger Derek, who she follows to the bar after he leaves the toilet. Intent on flirting with him and making Billy jealous, she doesn’t listen to a word Derek says and instead takes him back to her compartment to sleep with him. He senses what’s up though and decides not to follow through. Instead, he talks dirty to her in a bid to help pass the time. Fiona phones Billy while he’s at the bar but he tells her it’s over, just as Ruby returns from her compartment with Derek. After chatting to the barmaid, Derek ends up joining the duo for a drinking game but he mentions her age and it immediately offends her. Billy apologises to her but she runs out the train carriage, phoning home and hearing Laurence has changed his voicemail to mention how Ruby has run out and no one knows where she is, which is where the episode ends. With a paper thin story and a couple of questionable moments for our characters, Run returns for a weaker follow-up. There’s certainly potential here for a binge-able comedy but the idea of a woman running away from her kids and husband without even speaking to her children just doesn’t feel all that believable and Ruby’s motivations, including flirting with a random passenger and manipulating him to make Billy jealous, just don’t feel like things a likable protagonist should perhaps be doing. Still, there will be a crowd for this show though and if you enjoyed the first part, no doubt you’ll enjoy this too, but at the same time Run feels like it’s running on a one trick pony and sooner or later that’s going to get tiresome unless the show mixes things up a bit.
